The Beatles had a total of four albums in the top 10, with Revolver at six, Abbey Road at eight and The Beatles - also known as The White Album - at 10.

Best of the rest

Only one album from the last 20 years featured in the top 10 - and that was U2's The Joshua Tree, from 1987, which came third.

The rest of the places were taken by a string of mid-70s records. Fourth was Fleetwood Mac's Rumours and fifth was Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.

TOP 10 NUMBER ONE ALBUMS

1: Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band - The Beatles

2: Thriller - Michael Jackson

3: The Joshua Tree - U2 (above)

4: Rumours - Fleetwood Mac

5: Wish You Were Here - Pink Floyd

6: Revolver - The Beatles

7: Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel

8: Abbey Road - The Beatles

9: A Night At The Opera - Queen

10: The Beatles - The Beatles

Simon and Garfunkel's Bridge Over Troubled Water came in seventh, and Queen's A Night At The Opera came ninth.

Over 220,000 people voted in the poll, through websites for both the official charts and Radio 2.

In all, there have been 787 Number One albums, from Frank Sinatra's Songs For Swingin' Lovers - which headed the first ever chart in 1956 - to Christina Aguilera's Back To Basics, the most recent new best seller.

The most recent release to make it into the top 100 was Madonna's Confessions On A Dancefloor, at Number 37, which charted in November last year. Coldplay's X&Y and Gorillaz' Demon Days, both which topped the chart last June, were also included.

"With over 220,000 votes received from the great British public, this is the most definitive record of the nation's favourite albums to date," said Darren Haynes of the Official UK Charts Company.

Because several iconic albums never made it to Number One in the album chart, a "best of the rest" category was also included in the poll.

This was topped by the Pink Floyd album Dark Side Of The Moon - which only made it to Number Two on its release in 1973.

"The list of Number One albums is instantly interesting because it highlights the fact that such classics as Dark Side Of The Moon, Bat Out Of Hell, Ziggy Stardust and Hotel California failed to reach the Number One slot," said Mr Haynes.